The film was made at the request of a disabled friend of Herzog's, specifically in order to raise awareness for the cause of the disabled in West Germany.[1] Herzog compares the film to his earlier The Flying Doctors of East Africa in that it has very little stylization, and is, he says, "dangerously conventional."[1] During production of Handicapped Future, Herzog met Fini Straubringer, and this meeting led directly to Herzog's more well-known film Land of Silence and Darkness.[1]
